


Fissiparous

by lcdsra



Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27430114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra
Summary: /fiˈsipərəs/adjective1. inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups.Or: Cressida watches as the people around her find their people.
Relationships: None
Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935553





	Fissiparous

**Author's Note:**

> AU: You have one half of an image and your soulmate has the other, and when you meet, they’ll become whole.
> 
> Character(s): Cressida, Pluto, Skylar, Amber, Rhea, Skathi, Oliver  
> Relationship(s): Skylar & Amber, Rhea/Skathi  
> Warning(s): None

The people around Cressida liked to divide themselves into many little groups that she was never a part of.

It started at the beginning. At least, that’s what she’d say. Her parents fought a lot, her father clearly favored her older brother, so if it was just him with them, they’d break off to play together whenever they got the chance. If it were Pluto, her mother, and herself, her mother doted upon Pluto and Cressida was left to play by herself.

She was a little too young to recognize why she was so different, but as a child, she wasn’t blind to her different appearance. Her light hair separated her, visually, from the rest of her family, like from birth she was destined to not fit in with them.

Her family told her to be invisible, silent, taught her how to sneak when needed, how to be in tune with other’s emotional state as to avoid being in the middle of a conflict. They taught her so much, even if they never felt like family.

Because she didn’t have any family, none at all. Pluto didn’t care for her, her mother always looked at her like she was a mistake and a burden, and her father just ignored her.

She was lonely. So very lonely.

: : :

What was ironic about Cressida’s soulmate tattoo was that it appeared to be split into many parts, or maybe it was just very small.

She couldn’t really tell what it was, just a corner of something on her wrist. Two of the edges were smooth, like a piece could just fit right up against it, while two of the other sides were rough, frayed. The color was a boring tan.

That was it. Pluto’s soulmate tattoo was clearly half of a wing. He had gotten the end feathers and they were beautiful.

Their parents were soulmates. Even though their respective tattoos had frayed like the edges of hers, they were still connected. Thin threads of color still bonded them, even if the tattoo itself looked like it was about to be torn apart.

: : :

Cressida’s first somewhat friend was named Skylar. Skylar looked like her, a little. She was bright and bubbly and a little mean but they were in the same homeroom for awhile and that was enough for a kindergartener.

Skylar was practically perfect. She was smart and funny and popular and it was a miracle she stayed friends with Cressida until 5th grade.

5th grade was when a girl named Amber moved to their school and then suddenly there was no Skylar.

Skylar and Amber became best friends to rival any other and once again, Cressida was left behind.

Cressida had even worked to be funnier, to try harder, to pretend she had a normal family that loved her like they should’ve. It was not enough. Nothing was.

: : :

Something Cressida never told Skylar was that when they met, a piece of her tattoo was added. The little corner became a slightly wider piece of rectangle. If she squinted closely, she might’ve been able to see another color at the edge right where it had cut off.

It was too early to tell what kind of soulmate she had, platonic and romantic ones were both able to connect tattoos, but after she lost contact with Skylar, she had guessed platonic. Skylar and her were both straight as boards.

: : :

In middle school, a kind girl named Rhea befriended her on the first day. Rhea wasn’t loud like Skylar, and seemed to be drawn to Cressida when she was quiet. Rhea reminded Cressida of herself, sometimes. She was friends with everyone, or at least got along with them, but didn’t have anyone close. Cressida was the opposite, in that she wasn’t close to anyone.

Rhea was nice and taught her to be thoughtful and considerate and she humbled her, in a way she didn’t know another person could. It was radically different from how Skylar acted, how she was expected to act around Skylar.

Rhea valued silence. Skylar valued strings of endless conversations.

But Rhea wasn’t destined to stay. Rhea found her soulmate a year into middle school and they were inseparable ever since. Their tattoo was a rope that circled their wrists and connected, after they met.

She didn’t hold a grudge against Rhea, not at first. Matching a soulmate tattoo was remarkable and some were even willing to leave happy marriages after finding their soulmate.

It wasn’t like she and Rhea had anything special.

: : :

Cressida did not tell Rhea that she was her soulmate. The day they met and talked, Cressida’s little rectangle turned longer. The edges finally connected, and the piece that appeared had a red X.

By now, the three pieces made up maybe half of a map, or possibly less than that. So Cressida’s mark was a map of all the people she met that changed her. How terrible it was, to be given so many soulmates yet be destined to have none of them.

But that was just how her life was. People met her and then left her and she became a distant memory to them while they became a piece of her.

: : :

Cressida met a boy named Oliver in high school. He was funny. Very funny.

He once told her he was the class clown three years in a row, and he wasn’t about to break that streak. He taught her how to laugh at herself, at others in a gentle way. The joy one could take by speaking and smiling just for the sake of being happy.

How funny that it took so long for her to learn that.

Oliver was like Skylar, sometimes, but his jokes weren’t meant to be offensive, or mean. Oliver was like Rhea too, in that he was kind and thoughtful, even if his words sometimes got ahead of his thoughts.

But he didn’t stay either.

His departure was slower, less sudden, but somehow more painful. He drifted to people like him with similar interests, and even though Cressida changed herself for him, he didn’t stay.

: : :

Oliver’s piece of the map confirmed that it was a six piece map. 5 soulmates. And yet already she had lost three. Most people in their lives hunted their soulmates down to keep them. Yet the universe threw them at her, and then took them away.

Cressida didn’t tell Oliver. His soul mark was greyed out and he told her it was his only one. His soulmate was dead and though he was open to the possibilities of being with someone else, that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted friends and happiness because he was tired of being sad.

Oliver’s piece seemed to be the start of the map, while Rhea’s was the end. There was a clear little path beginning to form. It was cute and charming but entirely unhelpful.

: : :

By chance, by pure coincidence, Cressida met her fourth soulmate years later after learning of her name.

Skathi.

Rhea’s soulmate, who’s tattoo was secured back in middle school, happened to be in her college dorm for just a year, because after she was moving to another state.

Skathi was quiet, like Rhea, but her humor was dry and sarcastic. Defensive, sometimes, protective, often. Cressida didn’t talk to her a lot, but they accidentally brushed each other moving through the narrow hallways and that’s when her fifth piece showed up.

But she had already chosen her group. Rhea was all she wanted from this life, and she was satisfied.

: : :

Cressida didn’t tell Skathi. Skathi didn’t need to know that Cressida was her soulmate, was soulmates with Skathi’s soulmate, even though neither had Cressida as their’s.

Oliver’s piece was under Cressida’s, Skylar’s piece was next to Cressida’s, Rhea’s was next to Skylar’s, and Skathi’s was under Rhea’s. Oliver’s piece didn’t connect with a clear or easy pathway to the others, while Rhea’s and Skathi’s did a lot. Their pieces fit seamlessly, no blockages like trees that stopped them from being together.

If trends were to continue, Cressida’s final soulmate would be connected to Skylar or Oliver, or maybe even Skathi.

She dared hope for someone who would stay.

: : :

Her last soulmate did not stay even an hour. Even 20 minutes. Because her other soulmate was Amber, who was Skylar’s soulmate, who was also her soulmate. But Cressida was not their soulmate, of course, so it didn’t matter that she didn’t know.

Amber ran into her on the street one day, and they talked a little about how Skylar was doing. During their 18 minute conversation, Cressida could see how well they might’ve fit together.

Because it turned out they were soulmates, platonic, but still, soulmates, and they were still in contact, even though Amber was currently traveling while Skylar was settling down somewhere.

Amber lived up to her name. Her personality was bright and blunt and her remarks were scathing. She moved quickly, even 20 minutes seemed like a lot to spare for her.

Amber’s piece looked like it had been burned a little. The edges were dark with ash, even if her piece depicted a pond. The final product was indeed a map, with messy trails that could’ve connected with a few changes.

Imperfect. Messy. That was okay.

: : :

Of course Cressida didn’t tell Amber. She barely got a word in, and Amber left before giving any kind of communication. Part of Cressida was happy that she at least knew all her soulmates.

But it was still a bitter reminder that even the people the universe deemed for her didn’t want her.

Oliver found his group, his friends who were happy and a little broken like him. Skylar and Amber found each other and ruled their worlds together, content with each other. And Rhea and Skathi loved each other too much to need anyone else.

Cressida did not tell her soulmates that they were hers. They didn’t need to know. She didn’t want them anymore.

It was about time she made her own group, and found her own people.

**Author's Note:**

> You keep me in your orbit  
> Well, I know I'm a hard one to please  
> Give it too much importance  
> My love'll have you fall to your knees  
> I tell them this too often  
> Know better than to bark up my tree  
> Just for me to fall and leave
> 
> \- better off by Ariana Grande


End file.
